07/11 - Sun, Slush, Silliness and Singing

It can be scorching 

here under the rising sun,

forging memories



In conditioned rooms,

in crazy, oddball basements

we can enjoy fun


Today was my dad's first full day in Tokyo. He met Aykut and I in the morning and came to Ikebukuro, where we work, with us. I had a break in first period, so after dropping off my stuff and setting up my classroom for the day I showed him around the area a bit. We had a Royal Milk Tea, a very common and delicious beverage that can be found in cafes, convenience stores and vending machines here, then hit up Mini-Stop, a convenience store near the building I work in, to have a tuna and mayonnaise onigiri and some of the delicious pancakes with the built-in syrup and butter they have here. I felt I had to introduce him to my favourite snack options.

After that I gave my dad some suggestions for places he could walk around for the morning. We met for lunch a few hours later, then he again explored the area. It's great that our area is so jam-packed that you can explore it for days, weeks or even months without ever seeing everything. As a result, my dad definitely didn't run out of things to do.

After a long day at work, Aykut and I met my dad at the Kirin Bar near Ikebukuro Station that I had wanted to try for a while. One of the most annoying things about Japan, especially to my dad even after 24 hours in the country, is how much head they serve your beer with. This place was no exception and they wouldn't accommodate any requests for a beer with less head. They did, however, serve beer with special frozen heads, making them kind of like a beer slushy. They weren't the best thing I've ever tasted, but were alright to start off a Friday night with.

Today was also the 11th of July, making it 7-Eleven Day, or Free Slurpee Day back in Canada. I feel like getting my favourite snacks at a convenience store and drinking a slushy beer were the best I could do considering getting an authentic Canadian 7-Eleven Slurpee is impossible here. Funnily enough, getting a Slurpee is just about the only reason I ever go to a convenience store at home, but here going to them is a way of life for the whole country.

After our icy brewstangs the three of us headed to grab some supper. I chose the spot, taking us to the same restaurant I had been to before with three Japanese friends and wrote about here. I was hoping we could get the table with the rubber chicken, but it was pretty full so we had to opt for a regular table in the middle of the room. The place did not disappoint though. The crazy staff were joking around with us in between bouts of miming and yelling. One fantastic server who had the whole restaurant cracking up kept telling us he'd try English and shouting out one or two word English phrases. He also would loudly compliment us anytime we explained things to him in Japanese. The food was also very good. We had some omesoba and two kinds of okonomiyaki. My dad was enamoured with the place, saying we should definitely come back and taking photos of the decorations around the restaurant and in the bathroom.

Following supper we met up with some other teachers for karaoke. We got our friend from the last karaoke, Tashiki, to set us up with our room and also convinced him to come sing a couple of songs. During the night he sang an English song for us and the Japanese song he said he was best at singing. He was pretty impressive, but so was my dad, since he knows a ton of songs and has a good voice for doing many of them, especially Elvis. Everyone had a great time, staying out a bit too late, but making some great memories, some of which won't be that easy to remember.

Today's first haiku references the rising sun Japan is famous for. My dad noticed how early the sun came up and how full force it was as we walked around in the morning. I am often amazed at how strong the sun is early in the morning. It feels like the peak hours of sunshine are from about 8 AM until 11 AM, whereas most places I always thought the peak was from about 12 PM to 3 PM. It is also an unrelenting sun many times which is why the second haiku references the air conditioned areas you sometimes need to duck into just to get a reprieve. Luckily, or sensibly, air conditioning is very common here, in department stores, convenience stores, parts of the station, on the trains, in our classrooms and even in the karaoke rooms. The poem also references the an oddball basement, which is of course the crazy okonomiyaki restaurant where we ate supper. Finally, it references a phrase teachers here a lot here "We can enjoy..." Probably due to a translation issue, Japanese students often describe places using the "phrase". An example would be, "In Japan, we can enjoy raw fish and Japanese culture." Or just, "Friday night, we can enjoy."